Green Journeys
by Lady of the Locke
Summary: Leaf Gilmour leads a simple life with a simple routine. Wake up, go to work (and if there's any time in between) save the world from genetically engineered monstrosities. The first in my Nuzlocke series.
1. Chapter 1

I awoke to the incessant screeching of my alarm clock. This was the fourth time I had hit snooze as opposed to turning it off and getting out of bed, and the alarm was starting to get on my nerves. I had been having the most wonderful dream about... Well, that doesn't really matter, does it? No really, it has no bearing on the subject at hand. Let's move on.

Reluctantly, I managed to drag myself out of my nice warm bed. As soon as my feet hit the cold hard wood floors, I considered exacting some form of violent revenge against the alarm clock. It took all of my groggy willpower, but I refrained. I can't really afford to keep replacing those things. Anyway, the sun wasn't up yet, so I had plenty of time to make coffee before heading over to the lab where I work as the professor's aide.

Waking up before dawn is a rare occurrence for me, and I decided to celebrate it by using the expensive coffee I had gotten for my birthday. It was imported from Hoenn, and tastes like sunshine and distilled joy. Also, coffee, but mostly the joy thing. It is a bit more extravagant than the coffee I normally drink, so I normally only make it on really special occasions.

While I waited for my distilled joy to brew, I perused some files Terry had given me. Apparently he wanted to test whether magmar really did have an average body temperature of over two thousand degrees. I was certain that it was an old wives tale, as such a temperature would be more than enough to cause anyone standing next to the magmar to burst into flames. I used to live on Cinnabar Island, and have seen a magmar or two in my time. Not once did I end up bursting into flame, nor have I seen anyone spontaneously catch fire around a magmar. I.E. the body temperature of a magmar cannot be nearly as high as people claim, but Terry wanted to test it out anyway. Really, I think he just bored. We hadn't gotten much in the way of research material in a while.

Or rather, when the Professor outsourced his pokédex project by putting it in the hands of his grandson and grandson's friend, it left us lab aides with little to do aside from cataloging and fact-checking.

I poured my coffee into a to-go cup and made my way to the lab. It was a particularly cold morning for the late spring. I suppose it wasn't unusual. It had been raining on and off for a couple days now. Last night had brought us a storm. The weatherman said that tonight would be the last rain for a while. I hoped that was true.

At any rate, the lab was much warmer. It was days like this that I truly appreciated the professor's need to heat the lab a bit more than I would consider strictly necessary. As I set my coffee down on my desk the professor came over to greet me.

"Hello, Leaf." he said brightly.

"Oh. Good morning, professor." I replied.

"Before you get started, I have a small errand I would like you to run for me."

"What sort of errand?"

"There is a package waiting for me at the post office in Viridian City. Could you go pick it up for me?"

"Uh... yeah. I think I can handle that."

That was not a _small_ errand, and he knew it. Viridian was an hour's walk from here through wild rattata and pidgey territory. I didn't even have a pokémon of my own to defend myself from wild pokémon attacks.

"I'll get the repels." I sighed. I hate repels, for much the same reason wild pokémon hate them. They smell like battery acid and pain.

"Oh, there won't be any need for that."

I paused. What was _that_ supposed to mean? Surely he didn't intend for me to go without the repels. I had seen what a rattata could do to someone. That would be suicide, and he knew it.

The professor was beaming at me, and much to my irritation I couldn't tell what he was thinking. I put on my mot diplomatic smile before proceeding.

"I'm sorry?" I asked.

"You see, I've been thinking. You've been working for me for a while now, haven't you?"

"'Bout two years now."

"Remember those pokémon I gave to Red and my grandson?"

"Sure I do."

"Well, there were three of them in the shipment that came, weren't there?"

"Just where are you going with this, Professor?"

"How would you like a partner?"

"I... what?"

"A pokémon partner. Would you like one?"

"What... like..."

Oak smiled kindly at me.

"Exactly like."

"Just like that?"

"Well, if you would prefer not to, I could always ask Terry. I just thought it would help in your research."

"No. No, it isn't like that at all." I stammered, "What I mean to say is I'd love a partner."

"Wonderful. I'm sure the two of you will get along just fine." the professor said as he placed the pokéball on my desk. I took it in my hands. It was somehow lighter than I was expecting. I know that pokéballs were specifically designed to be portable, but this one just felt so fragile.

I released the pokémon from it's ball, and found that I was not incredibly impressed by what came out. A small, squat little thing with a large bulb protruding from it's back. I've been studying pokémon long enough to identify it. A bulbasaur, a fine pokémon for a beginner. Their loyalty to their trainers is legendary, and I'm given to understand they're fairly easy to raise. I had never met one personally before, but I've heard how friendly they can be. This one didn't look so friendly. In fact, more than anything it just looked _confused_. It stared at me with the most puzzled look I have ever seen on anybody, pokémon or otherwise.

The silence was palatable. I stared at the bulbasaur, and the bulbasaur stared back at me. I turned to stare at the professor, who in turn stared at the bulbasaur. There was just a whole lot of staring going on.

"Would you like to give her a name?" the professor said. Possibly in a desperate attempt to break the silence.

"How can you tell?" I asked.

"What?"

"That it's a her, I mean. I'm not wholly unfamiliar with bulbasaur physiology. I just don't think there are any obvious markings differentiating between genders. You know, like unfeazant or doduo." I explained simply, "So, I was just wondering how you could tell." the professor coughed awkwardly.

"I'm a pokémon researcher. It's my job to know those things."

"Oh." I said suppressing my own awkward cough, "So, a girl bulbasaur."

"Did you want to give her a name? She just came in the other day, and I haven't had the chance to give her one."

"Sure, I guess." I thought deeply about what sort of name I should give the bulbasaur. I was probably going to be working together with him often, either through studying her or traveling with her. I wanted to make sure it was a good one.

"How about..." I stretched the word as I tried to think of something to call the damned bulbasaur. "Riley."

"That's a wonderful name." the professor said brightly. I smiled. It wasn't every day the professor praised me. Actually, yes it was. He is remarkably easy to please. But this time was special. I wasn't being praised for knowing how the alphabet works, or remembering to wash the beakers after I was done with them. So, I counted this one as a win.

"Come along, Riley. We've got work to do."

* * *

Riley and I walked together to the outskirts of town. It was already warming up, for which I was grateful. Making the trek to Viridian in the cold and the rain would have made the trip even more unpleasant.

I paused at the entrance of Route 1. Riley glanced up at me, seemingly annoyed by the delay.

"Haaah. Okay. We can do this." I breathed. I had made the trip many times before. Of course, all of those times had been under the noxious protection of repels or I was tagging along with an actual trainer. I guess I was an actual trainer now too. Despite the fact that I had only met Riley fifteen minutes previous, and had never gotten into a battle before.

I had seen people battle, it didn't seem too hard.

"Right! No sense hanging around here, is there?" I said more to myself than Riley, "Let's do this."

I took my first step onto Route 1. The rest of the steps followed pretty quickly. Riley and I walked for fifteen minutes in silence. I breathed a sigh of relief. This wasn't hard at all. I was just beginning to wonder what I had been so nervous about when it happened.

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a flash of purple. I turned to see what was going on. A rattata, it looked like a particularly large one, was gnawing on something small and red. It took me a moment to realize what it was. A baby pidgey, so young that it's dark brown feathers hadn't grown in yet. I knew this was the way of things in the wild, but I couldn't just sit by and do nothing.

"Riley!" I called. She charged the rattata, and knocked it back. The rattata dropped it's lunch and turned on us. It's maw was soaked in blood. I noticed feathers and bones strewn about. Apparently it had a rather large breakfast.

"Keep at it!" I commanded, and Riley obliged. She slammed into the rattata again. It tried to fend her off by swinging it's tail at her, but Riley charged through once more. I guess the rattata decided that a half-eaten pidgey wasn't worth all this trouble, because it took off into the grass.

"Alright. That's enough." I called to Riley as she made to pursue it. She snorted an irritated response, and checked the baby pidgey. She seemed pleased. I guess we had managed to get there in time to save it.

Just as I was congratulating myself, I heard a furious shriek and then the frantic flapping of wings. As if on instinct I called out to Riley.

"Move!" Riley had dodged out of the way of a really pissed off pidgeotto. She tried to tackle it as it was retreating into the sky, but it was already too late. She simply couldn't jump high enough to get to it. That was when I realized that I hadn't exactly thought my cunning plan all the way through. Riley couldn't defeat an opponent that she couldn't hit.

"You alright?" I asked as I looked for obvious injuries. Riley seemed angry, but otherwise fine. I glanced up to see the pidgeotto gearing up for another dive. "Good. Come on!"

We knew we couldn't defeat the pidgeotto, so we ran. As far as I'm concerned, running and living is a perfectly acceptable alternative to dying in a hopeless battle.

The sudden attack had gotten me all turned around, and I didn't have time to get my bearing straight before we took off. I didn't know where we were running, I was just hoping that we could put enough distance between ourselves and the pidgeotto that it would lose interest in us.

That... didn't happen. Instead, my foot caught on a stray root, and I ended up sprawled out in the mud. I rolled over just in time to see the pidgeotto diving straight for me. I would really like to say that I was waiting for the right time to strike, but in all honesty I had just frozen up.

Just before the pidgeotto hit me a flash of red crossed my vision. I blinked. Somehow the fact that I was not pidgeotto food wasn't quite sinking in. I stared at the pokémon that had saved me. A bright red lizard, that my brain slowly worked out was a charmander. It's attack had damaged the wing of the pidgeotto. Riley jumped into the fray. The two of them made quick work of the pidgeotto. When the battle was finished Riley trotted over to me. I was relieved to see that she was fine.

"Are you alright?" somebody asked me.

"What?" I asked looking at him. He seemed to be about my age, with shoulder-length black hair and a gentle smile. He offered me a hand, which I took.

"Yeah. I'm fine." I said, "Just a little turned around. Which way do I go to get to Viridian?"

"Actually, I'm heading that way myself, why don't we walk together?" he suggested.

"Sounds good. I'm Leaf, by the way. This is Riley." I gestured to my bulbasaur.

"That's an unusual name."

"I know."

"Oh sorry. I'm Remy, and that's my partner Ignis." he said sheepishly. Personally, I think that Ignis is a much more unusual name than Leaf, but I opted not to say that out loud.

"Nice to meet you, Remy, Ignis." I said as I tried to wipe some of the mud off my clothes.

"You've got some dirt on your face." he said gesturing to his own. I wiped my face furiously.

"Better?"

"Yep."

"Cool. Shall we get going?" He nodded and started walking. I followed after him. The four of us walked in silence for a while.

"You know, a bulbasaur really isn't the best choice against a flying-type." he said finally.

"No kidding." I laughed, "I wasn't looking for a fight. It just sort of worked out that way."

"How long have you been a trainer?"

"About a half an hour. You?"

"Half an hour, and you're already getting into trouble?"

"Who are you, my mother?"

"Sorry. Sorry. I've only been at this for a week myself."

"So you're new to this as well."

"Yeah. I came out here looking for a new partner. Ignis is great, but a team of one isn't going to cut it if I'm going to take on the League." I nodded. I had never really considered taking on the League myself, but I knew plenty of people who had.

"It's going to be difficult. Are you sure that's what you want?" I asked. He didn't respond to my question one way or the other.

"So, what are you headed to Viridian for?"

"Oh. I'm going to pick up something for the Professor."

"You mean Professor Oak?" he asked with wonder in his voice. I remember the days when I would have sounded the same way. It's difficult to be in awe of someone when you spend every day being annoyed with their filing habits, or more accurately, lack thereof.

"That's the one." I replied.

"Wow. Is he as great as everyone says?"

"He's nice enough." I shrugged, "Brilliant scientist and all that. Of course, his lab is always a mess. I spend all day organizing the files just to have to do it again the next."

"So you work for him."

"I help him around the lab, yeah."

"So you're trying to become a professor yourself someday?" he sounded genuinely impressed.

"That's the plan."

"So, what sort of research do you do?"

"Me? I specialize in attacks and stuff. You know, how they work and why. How they go about learning them... Sorry, I don't mean to bore you."

"You're not boring me. Your research sounds really interesting."

"It is. I spent most of my time researching fire-types on Cinnabar. Now, I guess I'm going to be researching grass-types."

"Is that why you have Riley?"

"You've got that backwards. Because I have Riley I'm researching grass-type moves."

The walk seemed far shorter when I had someone to babble about my research to. Remy listened patiently. I'm not sure if he was actually paying attention, but he nodded and asked questions at all the right times. Before I knew it we had arrived.

We decided to hit the pokémon center before anything else. It was a nice place, if a little too sterile feeling for my tastes. I knew that pokémon centers served many functions aside from just healing pokémon, although that was certainly their most famous function. They also served as cheap hotels and restaurants, and occasionally emergency rooms for trainers as well. They had other functions as well, but those could only be accessed by showing them a trainer card that had been issued by the League. I wasn't taking on the League, so those functions didn't exactly apply to me.

We decided to grab some lunch while we waited for the nurses to give our pokémon a checkup. There was no line at the cafeteria, despite it being lunch time. It struck me as odd. I looked around and realized that there was almost nobody in the center. Viridian was a pretty big place, but it only had the one pokémon center. It seemed unnatural that it would be so empty.

"Hey, why is it so dead in here?" I asked before popping a fry into my mouth. It tasted like cardboard, but I supposed that I got what I paid for.

"Oh, didn't you hear? The Viridian Gym Leader left town for a while, and so the Gym is closed." he said.

"No, I hadn't heard that. Where did he go?"

"Nobody really knows."

"Well, gym leaders are weird." I shrugged. Remy nodded in agreement I remember that Blaine had been the same way, closing his gym without explanation and going off to who-knows-where to do who-knows-what. It was always a real pain because that was the only place I could safely conduct my research back then.

We proceeded to eat in silence. I was fine with that, as I had just about run out of things to say. We finished our meal and went to collect our pokémon. Riley had been given a clean bill of health.

"How was your checkup?" I asked her. She snorted and gave me something that seemed to be an eye-roll. I hadn't realized that bulbasaurs could roll their eyes.

"That's good to hear." I said.

"What, you can talk to pokémon now?" Remy asked.

"Nah, but I think rolling your eyes is pretty universal, isn't it?"

"I guess so."

"How's Ignis?"

"He's great."

"I'm glad. Oh! I never did thank you for saving me back there."

"Don't worry about it."

"In that case, I'm gonna head out. That package isn't going to pick itself up. At least... it shouldn't." I said hesitantly as I turned to leave. One couldn't always be certain about such things when it came to packages the professor ordered.

Remy walked towards the exit with me. I guess it made sense that he wouldn't be sticking around the pokémon center any longer, but it was always awkward to say goodbye to someone before actually parting ways with them.

"Well, it was nice talking to you." I said when we made it out to the street.

"Hold on there." Remy replied reaching for Ignis's pokéball. "Leaf, I challenge you to a battle."

* * *

Team Stats:

Riley the Bulbasaur  
Level: 7

**AN: **Hopefully these will become more interesting as time goes on. I'm referring to both the author notes and the team stats. Fun fact: I normally try to keep my team levels at a multiple of five. This level seven business just might give me a tumor. Another fun fact, the majority of this chapter was actually cannibalized from my write up of a past, failed nuzlocke of mine. Leaf was a very different character in that one. I'm not sure if I like her better or worse in this version, to be honest. If anyone is interested, I'll do a little compare and contrast in these author notes.

Frankly, I'm not looking forward to the next chapter. It was a nightmare to write, and I'm sure it's going to be a nightmare to edit. I'll post more about why in my Author Notes next chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

The air stilled as I processed the challenge. It sounded like Remy had just asked me to battle him. That didn't seem right.

"I'm... sorry?" I asked. Remy looked perplexed.

"A battle. You know, I get Ignis out and you get Riley out and they fight each other? Like... for fun?" Remy suggested helpfully.

"I know what a battle is, thank you." I replied shortly. Perhaps a bit more shortly than I had intended. Remy shrugged it off with a laugh.

"Good. Then let's have one."

"What? Right here?"

"Yep."

"In the middle of the street."

"That's the idea."

"Why?"

"Isn't it obvious? It's tradition for trainers to battle each other when they meet." Remy explained patiently, "Also, you haven't had one yet."

"Not true!" I protested.

"The pidgeotto doesn't count. You spent most of that fight running away."

"Give us some credit. Riley scared off a rattata before that."

"Okay that might count, but you've never battled another trainer."

"So what?"

"Oh, come on!"

"Well, I guess I can't very well resist the siren call of 'Oh, come on!' now can I?" I asked dryly.

"That's the spirit."

"There is no spirit!"

"Look, this will help you in the long run. I won't be able to go with you back to Pallet Town, and you need to get better at battling."

He was right. Although, I sure wasn't going to admit that to him.

"Fine. A quick battle, and then I've got work to do."

"Awesome. I wonder what kind of trainer you are."

"The annoyed kind."

He and I took positions opposite each other, and released our pokémon into the center. Ignis looked thrilled to be out, I guess he realized what was about to happen. Riley, on the other hand, seemed less-than thrilled.

"Riley, it looks like we're going to have to battle these two. Is that cool with you?" I asked. Riley made a noise that I assume was one of indifference.

"You do know the rules, right?" Remy asked me.

"Yeah, of course I do." I said. Remy looked at me expectantly.

"Well?" he asked.

"Well what?"

"What are the rules?" the condescension in his voice was thick enough to be cut with a knife. My eyes narrowed.

"You really aren't going to start until I recite the rules for you?" I asked exasperated.

"That's right."

"Ugh. Fine. We shout out our commands from here, but aren't allowed to interfere in any other way. Happy?"

"Yep. That wasn't so hard was it?"

_I might just have to interrupt your face with my fist if you keep that up, buddy_.

Remy continued on, "Anyway, this is just a friendly match, so there won't be any killing."

"That goes without saying."

While death-matches were pretty common in the League, I had never intended to take part in one. I've seen far too much death already.

"Ready when you are!" Remy called.

"Fine. Let's do this!" I shouted back. I wanted to sound more confident than I felt, but somehow I don't think I managed it.

"Ignis, go!" The charmander responded instantly to his trainer's command, and leapt at Riley. It's claws came down across her face.

"Riley!" I gasped and took half a step forward.

"Leaf! You can't interfere." Riley reminded me. I growled, and shifted back. Ignis tried to strike again, but Riley managed to dodge. The battle continued in that fashion, Ignis attacking and Riley dodging out of the way. Even I knew that this was no way to battle. If I kept this up Riley would get too tired to dodge anymore.

"Damn." I grumbled. As I watched the battle something seemed odd to me. I couldn't quite make out what it was, but I understood it was important.

"You know, Leaf, part of this battling thing is having your pokémon attack!" Remy taunted. I opted to ignore him. I had bigger things on my mind.

"Riley! Try to get some distance!" I called out. Even though I wasn't the one in the thick of things, I could feel my own adrenaline rushing. It was making it difficult to focus on the battle. This was no good. I would be no good to Riley if I couldn't keep it together.

I took a deep breath and watched the charmander bring it's claw up once more, that's when I saw it. I was so excited at finding it that I had barely even noticed that Riley had dodged out of the way. It seemed like there wouldn't be any "getting some distance" in this fight, but that was just as well. I had finally come up with a strategy beyond running away.

"Riley! On my mark!" I shouted as she evaded another attack. I waited until just before the claws reached their apex. "Now!"

Riley obliged me with a well-placed tackle that sent Ignis sliding on it's back for a good meter and a half.

"You alright, Ignis?" Remy called to the charmander, who responded by jumping back to his feet. Ignis charged Riley again, and she found the opening without my command. I was glad she understood what I wanted from her so quickly.

Ignis stood a second time. This time was different, he didn't charge Riley. Our pokémon stood glaring at each other. I looked to Remy, who seemed content with this turn of events.

_I guess I should make the first move this time..._

"Riley! Let's finish this!" I commanded. Remy smirked as Riley began her charge. I understood then that I had made a terrible mistake.

"Fell for it." Remy teased.

"Look out!" I shouted, just in time. Ignis spun, whipping his tail towards Riley. A tail whip from a rattata was one thing, but there was a key difference between the tail of a rattata and a charmander's tail. Namely, that a charmander's tail was _on fire_. Riley managed to avoid it, but it left her open for another scratch.

_Damn._

I should have realized that it wouldn't be that easy. The opponents stood apart from each other, waiting for the other to make a move. Riley looked like she wouldn't be able to keep it up for much longer. Ignis wasn't looking all that much hotter. Riley gave me a serious look, it seemed she had an idea of her own.

"Are you sure?" I asked her. She made a noise that I took as a yes. I wasn't sure if other trainers did that sort of thing, allowing their pokémon to do as they wanted in battle. What I did know was that Riley seemed to have a lot more experience in this area than I did. If I wanted to win, all I would need to do is trust her.

And I wanted to win.

I breathed deeply to steady myself.

"Right! Let's end this!" Riley began her charge once more.

It was going to work.

It had to work.

"Fell for it again." Remy chided as Ignis turned to start another tail whip.

"Not quite!" I called back. Riley gave one final burst of speed, slamming into Ignis just before his tail made contact. Ignis tried to stand a third time.

"Alright, that's enough." Remy said returning Ignis to his ball, "We concede the match."

"Great job, Riley." I congratulated her before returning her to her own ball.

"As per league regulations, I have to give you your winnings." Remy said walking over to me.

"Oh. Right." I said taking his money. It wasn't much, but it would probably buy a nice dinner.

"You were pretty good out there." Remy said.

"Oh, I can't take the credit. It was Riley doing all the hard work."

"Even so, it was impressive. You two work well together."

"Ah. Thanks."

"Well, I guess we should go heal our pokémon."

"It's a good thing you decided to challenge me three feet from the pokémon center."

"Yeah, yeah. Cry about it some more, why don't you?"

"Maybe I will."

The nurse didn't seem too pleased that we had just had ourselves a knock-down drag-out right in front of her pokémon center, but she didn't lecture us too long. Riley was going to need about fifteen minutes to get patched up, so I decided to get the package while I waited. Remy promised to wait there in case it took me longer to complete the errand than I thought it would.

It wasn't a very far walk from the pokémon center to the post office. The two were barely a block apart. The post office itself was small, smaller than Oak's lab at any rate. It was brightly lit, and the florescent lights reflected off the white tiles and made it seem even brighter than it had any right to be. There was a counter with a bored-looking middle aged woman reading a magazine. She didn't even look up when I entered.

The post office was, like the pokémon center, strangely empty for a city of Viridian's size. I guess there wasn't much call for snail mail these days. Ever since the storage system started allowing for instantaneous delivery, things like mail has become a thing of the past. I don't know why the professor still uses it.

But I wasn't paid to complain about the professor being set in his ways.

I approached the counter. The woman seemed to neither notice nor care.

"Um... Hello." I said cheerfully as I could. She held up a finger. I rolled my eyes and waited patiently. She turned the page. This was getting ridiculous.

"Excuse me."

The woman made an irritated noise and gave me the most irritated look I had seen all week.

"What can I do for you?" she snapped.

"I'm here to pick up a package."

I pulled out the slip the professor had given me and handed it to the woman. She sighed as though I had asked her to climb Mount Silver barefoot and walked into the back.

_Whoa. Sorry to interrupt your important nothing there._

I tapped my foot as I waited. It was clear she was intentionally taking longer than she needed to. I guess to punish me for wanting my package. I peeked over to see what she had been reading. It looked like some fashion magazine. An article centering around some up and coming model in Unova. There were some pictures of the model with a blitzle. She seemed pretty enough, and according to the article she was a tough trainer.

I briefly wondered if she had become a trainer as some sort of publicity stunt. I had heard of a couple celebrities doing that. It seemed wasteful to me. Or perhaps she had always wanted to be a trainer, and the modeling was incidental.

_Man, this is fucking stupid. Why am I even thinking about this?_

I sighed and tapped my fingers on the counter. Bitzle was an interesting pékemon. It and it's evolution were electric-types that could learn fire-type moves without the aid of TMs. Well, _a_ fire-type move. They were fascinating. I would love the chance to study one, but they weren't indigenous to the Kanto region. Importing pokémon was a whole lot of trouble and paperwork that I just wasn't willing to go through.

Maybe someday after I finish my internship I'll travel to Unova to study the pokémon there.

Of course, that was still a long way off.

_Alright. How long could it possibly take to get one package?_

The wait really was getting ridiculous. I was glad that Remy had offered to stay behind and wait with Riley for me. I'm not sure what pokémon centers do when they have a pokémon who's trainer isn't there. I'm sure they don't just turn them out on the street, but even so. I wouldn't want Riley to have to sit wherever they stuck her by herself.

Perhaps that was why they built cafeterias into pokémon centers nowadays. So that trainers wouldn't leave to go get lunch and saddle the nurses with a bored and newly healthy pokémon. Oh sure, most injuries took mere moments to fix, but there were plenty that took much longer. The kind that a pokémon can get from professional battling.

Or perhaps they had always been designed that way.

I sighed and buried my face in my hands. I couldn't help but resent the professor for sending me on this little errand. Yeah, I got Riley out of the deal, but this was just too much. Running from a really pissed off pidgeotto was one thing, but this was just the worst. I was standing in an empty post office in an empty city because the fucking lady behind the counter got all pissy that I had asked her to do her job.

Just as I had really gotten into the swing of fuming at the injustice of it all, the woman returned. That was almost as irritating as the wait itself had been. She handed me the package without so much as a "Sorry for the wait." and turned back to her magazine. I opted not to thank her and walked away.

By the time I made it back to the pokémon center I had just about finished being pissed off at the bitchy post-office lady. I picked Remy out of the crowd of one, and made my way over to him.

"Hey, sorry that took so long." I said.

"It's no problem." he smiled at me.

"How's Riley?"

"She's doing good."

He handed her pokéball back to me.

"Well, I should get back. I've still got my usual duties to attend to."

"Oh. Yeah. So... I guess this is goodbye." Remy seemed a little dejected.

"Hey, if you're ever in Pallet Town you should look me up. We can get some coffee or something." I said awkwardly. He seemed to brighten at the idea.

"Yeah! That sounds great! Maybe you can give me a tour of the lab!"

"Heh. Maybe." I turned and walked away. I've never been very good at goodbyes.

"See you around!" he called after me. I waved, and moved on. It was going to be a long walk home.

* * *

**A/N:** Fight scenes are not my strong suite on the best of occasions, but when the fighters in question only know one offensive move each... I just hope I didn't screw it up too badly.

**Team Stats:****  
**

Riley the Bulbasaur  
Level: 8


	3. Chapter 3

It had been two weeks since my trip to Viridian. Things at the lab had hardly changed. I never did learn what was in that package, but I'm sure it wasn't anything too interesting. Terry had gone off to Lavender town to gather some information on the ghost-type pokémon who lived in the tower there. The professor had tried to send me, but I declined.

I can't stand ghost-types.

As for Riley, she and I had settled into a fairly easy routine. She watched the house when I went to work, and from the time I came home until it got too dark to see we trained. She had become quite adept at the vine whip technique during our training. I don't mean to brag, but she is frighteningly accurate with those vines of hers.

I woke this morning, as I did every morning since Riley had become a part of my life, to her jumping onto my bed long before the alarm went off. Unlike my alarm, Riley doesn't seem to take "Five more minutes" as an answer.

"You are _cold blooded_. How are you even awake right now?" I whined as I sat up.

Riley decided to respond by hopping off my bed and ran to the bedroom door. She sat patiently as I pulled on the day's clothes. I made my way to the kitchen, Riley at my heels, and poured her some breakfast before turning to the coffee maker. Since awaking before the dawn was no longer a celebratory occasion, I opted not to use my special coffee.

I went about the rest of my morning routine, occasionally dodging Riley who was underfoot.

"What, do you need to go out?" I asked irritated. She growled a confirmation. I let her out the front door so she could do her business, and went to get my own breakfast. It was still way too early to cook anything, so I just poured myself a bowl of cereal. I ate mechanically, and went over what I would have to do for the day. Since Terry was still gone that meant I was covering his duties as well as my own.

I suppose one of the other aides could have done it, but Terry likes it a certain way. Nobody else really cares how it gets done so long as it does, so I'm the only one I trust to get it done the way he likes it. He was supposed to be returning tomorrow.

I threw the bowl in the sink, promising myself that I would wash it later, before moving on to go to work. Riley opted to hang out in the garden for the day. Well, I call it garden. To be honest, I don't do much gardening, but weeds grow really well in that particular patch of dirt. I call it my weed garden. At any rate, Riley staying outside didn't bother me much. As far as I knew she hadn't strayed too far from the house without accompanying me. I guess bulbasaurs really were easy to raise.

Work had proceeded as usual until around lunch time. It was just about time for me to run back home to check up on Riley. As I turned to leave, the professor stopped me.

"Leaf, do you have a moment?" he asked.

"Sure." I answered quickly. I sincerely hoped this wouldn't take too long. Riley gets antsy when I don't return for her noon-time feeding.

"I got a call today about some fossils found at Mount Moon. I was wondering if you could take Riley and go collect a sample for me."

"Mount Moon, huh?" I said thinking it over. It would be a bit of a journey, but I had turned down the last one. I couldn't very well say no.

"Yeah. I think I can handle that much." I said finally.

"Excellent."

"I'll leave after I grab some lunch, alright?"

"That's fine. Take your time."

As I made my way to the exit the professor called out to me again, "Oh, and Leaf?"

"Yeah?" I asked, stopping to turn to him.

"I don't know if you've been keeping up with the news, but there's been some incidents around Viridian lately. Some gang called Team Rocket has been causing trouble."

"Team Rocket?" I asked automatically. I considered the news carefully for a moment before adding, "That's a really stupid name."

"Regardless. Be careful out there."

"Sure thing."

I returned home to give Riley the news. She was relaxing in the sunshine. The weather had finally cleared up. It had actually been pretty hot out for the past week. I almost missed the cold rainy weather we had been having.

Riley perked up when she heard me coming. She ran over to greet me.

"Hey there. I've got good news." I said, "We're going on a trip."

She seemed excited by the news. More-so than I was. The fastest way to Mount Moon was to trek through the Viridian Forest, and I'm not a huge fan of giant maze-like forests. Plus, there are all the bug-type pokémon crawling around there. I don't mind the little ones, like caterpie, but beedrills can do horrible things to a person. I suppose butterfrees aren't much better, what with their ability to use psychic-type moves.

It's hard to study psychic-type moves themselves, but the effects are pretty obvious. The thought of something being able to destroy my mind with a little bit of concentrated effort is actually pretty scary. Every now and again I remember how frightening the world I live in is.

_Oh well._

Riley and I ate lunch, and I prepared myself for the long trip. It was going to be a pain to have to carry everything I needed on my back, but it was necessary. I didn't have a pokémon who could fly me wherever I needed to go, nor did I have a drivers license. Or a car. Hell, even a bike would have been pretty nice. I must remember to see if I can get one at some point.

"Ready to go?" I asked. She was already standing at the door, staring at me.

_Somebody's eager._

I made sure to lock up behind me when I left.

* * *

The trip to Viridian had been uneventful. I would like to think that the wild pokémon had realized they were outclassed and decided to give Riley and I a wide berth, but I think that may just be me getting cocky. I looked to the sun that had already begun it's descent.

"It's getting late." I mumbled. Thinking out loud had become a habit of mine. I wondered if I should get one of those headsets to wear, so that people wouldn't look at me strangely when I did it in public.

"We should stay here for the night. I just don't like the idea of getting stuck in that forest when it gets dark."

I understood that my reasoning was sound, but it still felt like rationalizing to me. There were still a few hours left until it got dark, and wandering around the city didn't appeal to me at all. If I was going to go through the forest, I would need to stock up on antidotes. A lot of pokémon that lived in the forest were poisonous. If Riley ran afoul of one of them, I don't think I would be able to make it to the pokémon center in time to save her. The stasis field inside her pokéball would slow the poison down, but if I was truly lost, or ran into some wild pokémon, or any number of things that could go wrong...

Which reminded me of something Remy had said when I met him.

_A team of one just isn't going to cut it._

I wondered if I should maybe try to catch a new team-mate. Riley was the most dependable partner I could have asked for, but she was just one bulbasaur. If she got tired or hurt while I was stuck miles outside of a town, well it wouldn't end very well for either of us.

But training a pokémon that you catch out of the wild is supposed to be really difficult. Even if I did manage to catch a partner, there would be no guarantees that it would be willing to help us without a lot of training.

Training would mean staying in Viridian longer, and I was sure the professor wanted the samples as quickly as possible.

On the other hand, dying in the wilderness (how unpleasant that sounded aside) so would mean the samples would take even longer to obtain. What with my going missing, and with all the criminal activity in this area the police would probably launch an investigation into my disappearance which would take a while, and then him having to send out somebody else to get them...

And the professor _did_ ask me to be careful.

Really, catching and training a new partner would take a lot less time, along with being the only responsible choice.

I shook my head and sighed. There was no point in standing in the middle of the street worrying about it. I decided to buy supplies while I thought it over.

The pokémart was a nice place. It's white floors were so clean that if I paused to look I would be able to see my reflection in them. It was stocked wall to wall with various medicines and other items trainers would find useful. I wandered through looking for the antidote section. Technically, I thought it would be more accurate to call them anti_venoms_, but I wasn't in the Sylph Co. marketing division. I had no idea how those people thought.

The section was surprisingly small, almost all of them focused on the toxins that weedle and beedrill excrete. I suppose that made sense. The only poisonous pokémon nearby were weedles and beedrills. Although, with beedrills I don't think it's the poison you need to worry about so much as the three foot long stingers they have for arms. Seriously, those things are _terrifying._ They had some zubat antivenom as well, but I'm fairly sure every pokémart does. Zubats are fucking everywhere in Kanto.

I picked up three of each type, even if I did think beedrill antivenom wouldn't be all that useful. Better safe than sorry. I also decided to buy a few potions. Those were always useful. Potions were actually pretty nifty.

Or rather, the new potions that Sylph Co. had just put on the market were pretty nifty. The newer versions were much faster acting, and more reliable than the previous ones. They sprayed out a quick-drying foam that acted as both a disinfectant and a bandage. I'm not entirely sure how it works, but they also sped up the healing process. Somehow. I'm not saying it's magic, but it's probably magic.

As I checked out I heard somebody call out to me.

"Leaf!" I turned to see Remy trotting over to me.

"Oh. Hello." I said.

"It's been a while."

"It has been. What have you been up to?" I asked as I handed over the money to the cashier. I thanked him as he handed me my change.

"Nothing much. I caught a pidgey, and I've been training him up."

"That's cool." I said. I headed towards the exit, and he followed after me. The city outside was as sleepy as it had been the last time I had been here. I guess the leader was still away.

I could smell some roasted something-or-other coming from a roadside food stand we passed. It smelled like pidgey, but it could have been spearow as well. Briefly, I wondered how Remy would reconcile eating pidgey meat while training a pidgey. Perhaps he would forgo meat entirely. I know that a lot of trainers are vegetarians. While I'm on the subject, I wonder what grass-type specialists eat? There are dietary supplements that I suppose are meant for situations like that, I guess they just ate those. But those are really bland and awful tasting. Remy and I walked in silence as I pondered this. After a while Remy spoke up again.

"What about you? Are you working?" he asked brightly.

"I am. I'm stopping here for the night, but I've got to head out through the forest tomorrow." I groaned. The more I thought about it, the more I was dreading that leg of my journey.

"Oh. Where are you heading?"

"Mount Moon."

"To check out those fossils?"

"How'd you know about those?"

"Uh... it was- you know- on the news?"

"Was it?"

"Yeah."

"Maybe I should start watching." I said. I had never been very interested in the news. I don't watch much TV in general, but when I do it's never the news.

"You know, I was thinking of maybe trying to catch myself a new team-mate."

"Do you think you'll have time to train one while on the road?"

"I don't know."

"It isn't the sort of thing you should do lightly." Remy scolded.

"Yeah, yeah. I know that... I was just thinking about what you said. I don't want to find out that a team of one isn't enough when I'm stuck in the middle of the forest or something, you know?"

"I guess."

"Did you want to tag along?"

"Um... Where were you thinking of looking?" He asked, as if my destination wasn't already in sight. I wondered if he had even been paying attention to where we were going.

"Well, Route 22 seems like a decent enough place to start." I gestured ahead of us to the entrance to Route 22. Remy shrugged.

"I guess that seems fine." he mumbled.

Remy and I walked along the route looking for lone pokémon. I had never gone about catching a pokémon of my own, but I understood some basic strategies. It wasn't unlike a persian hunting rattatas. Find one that's been separated from it's pack, and attack. Taking on more than one pokémon at a time was never a good idea.

Keeping track of what one pokémon was doing in battle was something that took all of a trainer's concentration. While there were some people who participated in what are generally called double or triple battles, they were few and far between. Most double battles took place between four trainers split into two teams. But I digress.

Remy stuck his arm out, accidentally whacking me in the chest.

"Hey!" I hissed. He shushed me and pointed to a bit of rustling grass off to the side. We waited with baited breath as a young mankey staggered out. It seemed to be suffering. When I took a closer look, I noticed an odd bulge in her throat.

I moved towards the mankey. It seemed surprisingly docile for a mankey, but I suppose I could attribute that to whatever was blocking it's windpipe. Part of my training as a lab aide had involved learning basic first aid on most pokémon.

"What are you doing?" Remy hissed urgently. I ignored him.

"Hey there." I said soothingly as I placed my arms around it. It stiffened at my touch.

"Don't worry. I'm trying to help you. I just need to get that thing out of your throat, okay?" It didn't make any meaningful reply, so I proceeded. After a bit of effort, I had managed to dislodge the blockage. The mankey coughed out a rock.

"Is... that a rock?" I asked.

"It looks like a rock." Remy answered.

"Why did you try to eat a rock?" I asked the mankey. It let out a cheerful squeak. I patted it on the head.

"Alright. Try not to do that in the future, okay?"

It squeaked again, and picked up the rock. It looked like it was going to pop it into it's mouth again.

"Drop it." I said, pointing at the mankey. It stared at me as though I had just slapped it's mother, but it did drop the rock.

I stood. It was about time that we got to moving again. I jerked my head towards a spot deeper in the grass. He nodded, and we waded through the waist-high grass. I heard a rustling behind us and turned to see the mankey following after us.

"I think you made a friend." Remy said. He sounded almost jealous.

"Did you want to come with us?" I asked the mankey. It squeaked what sounded like an affirmative.

"Alright then." I rooted through my pockets to find a pokéball. I held it out to the mankey, who looked like it was considering trying to eat the pokéball.

"Don't even think about it." I said sternly, and activated the catching protocols. It didn't resist the pokéball. Once the capture was complete, I released it.

"I think I'm going to call her Adella." I said.

"Her?" Remy asked.

"Well, yeah."

"How do you know it's a girl mankey?"

"... I'm a pokémon researcher. It's my job to know these things." I said awkwardly.

"I... see." He didn't sound like he believed me, but then I wasn't sure that I believed me. Maybe I should have picked a more gender neutral name like I had for Riley.

"Oh! That reminds me. I should introduce her to Riley." I said suddenly.

"That would probably be for the best." Remy said patiently. He sounded as though he was confused as to why it had taken me as long as it did to suggest it. I guess it had been the obvious thing to do.

I shrugged and reached for Riley's pokéball. This was certainly going to be an interesting experience. I paused for a moment to fervently hope that Riley and her new teammate would get along. How was I going to deal with it if those two hated each other? I supposed that I could just keep one of them in their pokéball when I wasn't actively training them, but that seemed cruel to me somehow.

It wasn't... not really. Pokéballs act as a form of short-term stasis, slowing down time for the pokémon inside. Days could pass inside the pokéball, and for the pokémon it would only be an hour or two. Even so... I didn't like the idea of keeping them locked up like that. Maybe I'm just soft, but I always believed that pokémon should be allowed to run free.

Riley emerged from her ball and looked at Adella. She immedietly adopted a fighting stance.

"Wait, Riley." I said quickly.

Adella didn't wait for Riley to relax her stance, and bounded over to her. She sniffed the bulbasaur cautiously before giving a squeal of delight. The mankey smashed her face into Riley's, who staggered back in surprise. Riley adopted a more aggressive stance and growled at Adella, who squeaked back cheerfully, hoping from one foot to the other.

_Well, this certainly is an auspicious start._

"This is Adella." I said, "She's going to be our new partner from now on, okay?"

Riley looked to me with a pained expression. I had a feeling that if she could speak she would be asking me why I was doing this to her.

"She's a little strange, but I think with a little training Addy will be a reliable partner." I said hoping to placate her. Riley didn't seem convinced.

"Well then, are you ready two ready to go?"

My new partner squeaked what I believe to be an affirmative, while Riley gave a resigned snort. I grinned at them. Maybe this trainer business wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be.

* * *

**Team Stats:**

Riley the bulbasaur  
Level: 8

Adella the mankey  
Level: 2

**A/N:** And so Adella has finally joined my merry band. You know, I underestimated how difficult it was to convey personality without actual written dialogue. I wonder if I'm doing okay with it. Basically I've been basing personalities off of the natures I've been getting. Riley and Adella being rash and quirky respectively. I hope I'm getting their personalities across well enough. I know the story has been slow to start, and I feel I should apologize for that. Things should start picking up either next chapter or the chapter after.


	4. Chapter 4

I returned both of my pokémon to their balls. Remy gestured back towards town, and I gave a quick nod. We walked in silence for a moment before Remy spoke up.

"So... you do have some idea of how you're going to train her, right?" he asked uncertainly. I laughed nervously.

"Of course I do." I lied.

In truth, I had no idea how to go about training Adella. Riley had sort of trained herself. I assume because she had been born in captivity, unlike my new friend. If what the rest of the world had to say on the matter was to be believed, training a wild pokémon was supposed to be a whole other ball game.

"Well then, you must know that the first thing you'll need to do is to see what she can do." Remy said. I don't think he believed me. At least he was being kind enough to let me keep my pride intact.

"Obviously, but... assuming I didn't know what you meant by that?" I asked.

"Most trainers test their new catches out in battle."

"I see. In that case, would you like to battle?"

"I wouldn't say no."

"R...right." I said meekly. I had never tried to initiate a battle before, and I had to admit that I felt rather foolish.

"Actually, there's something I've always wanted to try." he said cheerfully.

"What's that?"

"A double battle."

"That... Why?"

"It looks like something I'd enjoy, and now would be the perfect time to try it out. I have two pokémon, you have two pokémon. Come on. It'll be fun."

"Fun. Right." I said. I had chosen to issue the challenge, so by normal league regulations he was the one who could set the terms. I could either agree to his terms, or withdraw my challenge and forfeit the match before it began. It was one of those rules that nobody ever actually used. Of course, he would be the one to invoke it.

_That bastard._

"That... I take it I won't be able to talk you out of this?" I asked.

"Not a chance."

"Fiiiiine."

"Let's not do this here." he said walking away. I trotted after him.

"O...kay. Where did you want to do it then?" I asked. It wasn't like we were that far from the pokemon center, nor were there any bystanders around to make things more difficult for us.

"The pokémon center training room." he answered.

"But I thought you needed to be official to use that."

"You do, but guess who got his official card last week?"

"Nice." I said, honestly impressed, "How's that working out for you?"

"Pretty well. I was planning on heading to Pewter City in time for the challenge in a couple days."

"Well, I'm heading that way tomorrow. Why don't we go together?" I suggested.

"That sounds great..."

"I'm sensing a but?"

"But I promised some friends of mine we would go together." he said, seeming a little melancholy. I decided not to press the issue.

"Oh. That's cool."

"Yeah. Sorry."

"It's no big deal. Have a good time." I said. We had just about reached the borders of the city by the time we had finished our conversation.

"Excuse me!" a hoarse voice called out to us. Remy and I turned to spot an elderly man crouched by the side of the road. To say that he looked like some sort of half-mad vagrant would be putting it politely. Even at our rather generous distance I could tell he reeked of booze and something much less pleasant. His eyes weren't even trying to stay focused and pointed in the same direction. One was dilated wildly, while the other had a mere pinprick for a pupil. They were both drifting slowly in opposite directions. It was more than a little disconcerting.

"Are you alright, sir?" I asked.

"Sit down and enjoy a cup of coffee with me." he cackled. I looked to Remy who looked as bewildered as I did.

"Actually, sir. We really must be going." I said.

"Now now. You're both still young. Sit and talk with an old man a while." he said firmly.

"Yes, sir." I said sitting down. Remy took the seat next to me. He took a swig from a thermos, and held it out to me. It did not smell anything like coffee, so I declined. Remy was far more adventurous and took a sip. He looked like he regretted it.

"Nothing like a cup of coffee to start the day." he croaked.

"Sir, it's the evening."

"Don't you go telling me when I can and cannot start my day, missy."

"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir."

"Now, you two seem like fine young trainers."

"How did you know we were trainers?" Remy asked.

"Well, you were on Route 22, weren't you? Nobody goes down that road that ain't a trainer." he answered sharply.

"Of course."

"Now, I used to be a trainer back in the day."

"Used to be?"

"I'm too old for it nowadays." he said, "Had a fine team, I did. At least until the War."

"Oh." Remy said. The old man took a deliberate swig from his thermos. I had a feeling that this little exchange was going to become very awkward. At least, more awkward than it had already been.

Every child in Kanto knew about the War. The war that was so notorious it didn't even need a name. At least, not in Kanto. It did have an official name, as all wars do. But I suppose that isn't important. Here we just call it the War. It had started long ago, well before even the old man who had dragged me into this terrible conversation. Over a hundred years ago, to be more precise. Nobody was really sure what had started it. Some say it was a political scandal, others that is had been started by some mad conqueror. I suppose that there is no real way to know for sure.

At any rate, for over a hundred years, just about everybody who came of age got drafted into the war. Many of them were trainers before they started, some were even looking for a career in the military. My father had been one of them.

He died just before the end of the war.

_But let's not dwell on that._

The War ended nearly twenty years ago. My generation was one of the first that had grown up during peace time.

None of us spoke for a long time. I glanced at Remy, trying to formulate a way to escape. He seemed to be unable or unwilling to help be out. However, fate seemed to be with me, in this one instance.

"Grandpa! There you are!" a young female voice called out. I praised myself for having the composure not to outwardly express my relief.

"Vanessa!" The old man seemed to be delighted to see her. She seemed less so.

"Grandpa, I told you. Vanessa was my mother's name." Not-Vanessa sighed, "I'm so sorry. I hope he didn't cause you too much trouble."

It took me a moment to process that she had been addressing me.

"Oh no. No trouble at all." I said quickly.

"Well, thank you for keeping an eye on him for me." she continued.

"My friend and I were just going to go." Remy finally decided to pitch in.

"Oh, well. I was just about to make dinner, if you two wanted to join us." the young woman offered.

"We wouldn't want to intrude." I said.

"And we actually have somewhere we need to be." Remy added.

"Oh. Well, good luck."

Remy and I thanked her and went on our way.

"So... about that battle." he said awkwardly.

"I'm not really feeling it right now. Are you?" I asked.

"Not really." he admitted.

"Rain check?"

"Rain check."

* * *

Team stats are the same as they were last chapter.

**A/N:** Sorry about this chapter. It really isn't my best showing. This _will_ pick up soon. I promise.


	5. Chapter 5

I woke to a frantic thumping on my door. Even Riley seemed startled and confused. Adella on the other hand looked like she was still asleep. Groaning as I rolled out of bed, I trudged over to the door. Cracking it slightly, I saw Remy grinning back at me.

"Oh man, it's you." I sighed.

"Good morning to you too." He said brightly. Being that chipper so early in the morning should be against the law.

"This had better be really freaking important. Is the pokémon center on fire?" I asked.

"Rain check!" he replied, somewhat nonsensically.

"Rain... What?"

"We had a rain check on our battle yesterday. Rain check!"

"What... what time is it?" I asked, barely comprehending what he was telling me.

"Battle time! Get dressed, and meet me downstairs in fifteen minutes." he commanded before sprinting off.

"Remy, wait!" I called after him. He either couldn't hear me, or chose to ignore me. I rolled my eyes and closed the door.

"Alright you two," I addressed my companions, "Looks like we're having an early start today." Riley perked up immediately. Adella didn't. I gestured for Riley to wake Adella up while I got ready to go. I tried not to think about how, exactly, Riley was planning on completing that command, as well as the various strange and vaguely hostile sounding noises the two were making. I knew the task was done once Riley started using me as a shield against whatever vengeance Adella had been planning.

"Good, you're up. Come on. We've got a busy day ahead of us." Adella chirped at me, her grievances against Riley hopefully forgotten. They followed at my heels as I made my way down to the main area of the pokémon center.

"I know I was the one who challenged him, but this is a real pain, isn't it?" I said more to myself than my team. Neither of them responded. Riley because she had long since gotten used to my habit of talking to myself, and Adella because... Well, I don't have any real idea of what's going on in that head of hers.

Remy called out to me within seconds of my stepping into the lobby area.

"There you are! I was just about to come up and get you." he said.

"Why? It's been like... five minutes." I said.

"Twelve, actually." he looked so smug as I rolled my eyes. I briefly wondered if I was going to pull something that way.

"Breakfast?" I suggested.

"Sounds good."

"Great, because you're buying."

"What? Why?"

"You woke me up at..." I stopped to check my watch, "four in the morning? Oh, you _bastard_. Two breakfasts. You owe me two breakfasts." Remy deflated before my eyes.

"Yeah. That's... that's fair." he sighed.

"Then there's a chance I might forgive you."

* * *

After we finished eating, Remy stood. I followed him as he walked towards a door that I had never entered before. He swiped his trainer card through a scanner next to the door, and covered my eyes before he punched in some numbers.

"What was that? Your super secret trainer code?" I asked when he removed his hand from my eyes.

"Pretty much. If you saw it, I would have to kill you." Remy said gravely.

"Well, that's no fun."

The door opened to a long flight of stairs. The lights came on automatically, which was nice. It would have sucked to have to try and hunt for a light switch. Especially if the switch was at the bottom of the stairs. The stairwell smelled faintly of fresh paint and cleaning supplies, and our footsteps echoed off the tiles as we walked.

I had never realized that the special trainer's area of the pokémon center was in the basement. It makes sense in hindsight, I suppose.

"So, are you sure it's alright for me to be down here?" I asked.

"Of course."

"But I'm not a registered trainer."

"Registered trainers are allowed to bring one guest into the training areas with them." he explained.

The training area itself was pretty plain. It, like the rest of the pokémon center, had polished tile floors, and bare white walls. There were several pieces of equipment and brightly colored mats scattered around the large room, along with a large area in the middle that I assumed was meant for mock-battles. The walls were decorated with large posters and charts reminding trainers of type advantages, and advertisements for Sylph Co products.

Remy took one end of the large square and released his team. Ignis seemed pleased with the chance to have a rematch with Riley, and the pidgey eyed me suspiciously.

"Ready?" he called to me.

"As I'll ever be." I said sending my team out onto the field. I had to admit I was worried about the pidgey. Neither of my pokémon had any real defense against flying pokémon. Even Riley's vines only had a range of about two meters.

"Ignis, Owen. Do it just like we practiced!" I guessed that Owen was the pidgey's name.

It seemed that Remy had elected not to give me much time to contemplate my strategy. Ignis opened with a burst of flame directed at Riley before either of us could react. Fortunately for the both of us, Adella had elected to shove Riley out of the path of the fire. Less fortunately for Adella, that left her to take Riley's place. By some miracle of agility, Adella barely got singed. The stench of slightly-burned fur began to fill the room. Owen swooped down while Adella was recovering and landed a solid hit against it.

Riley's vines shot out in retaliation, but it was too little too late. By the time Riley had acted Owen was already out of range.

Ignis charged Riley, readying his claws. Riley barely managed to dodge out of the way. Adella had found her feet again, and jumped into the fray. Her claws hit nothing but air as Ignis pulled back.

"Addy! Behind you!" I shouted as I noticed Owen beginning another descent. Riley tried her vines again, but Owen effortlessly changed course mid-flight. Owen swiftly found an area to circle that was well beyond the reach of Riley's vines.

Adella held out her arms, and looked at Riley expectantly. I raised my eyebrow as Riley jumped into Adella's outstretched arms. I didn't have long to wonder what those two were planning. Adella launched Riley up into the air. Riley rocketed upwards at a frankly alarming pace. Owen seemed just as surprised as the rest of us when Riley's vines wrapped around him. Riley swung the pidgey down towards the ground.

I had been so focused on Riley, that I had failed to notice Ignis charging in to swipe at Adella again. Just before his claws made contact, Owen smacked into the charmander's back. Adella followed up with a devastating kick. Both pokémon lay in a crumpled heap.

"Alright, that's enough." Remy said, "You win again, Leaf."

"Looks that way." I sighed in relief. We both recalled our pokémon, and he walked over to give me my earnings. I waved him away.

"We'll just knock off that breakfast you owe me from your tab." I said.

"Oh. Cool."

As we made our way back up to the lobby to get our pokémon looked at Remy coughed. "You have a pretty hands-off style, don't you?" he asked.

"I guess so." I said, "Is... is that bad?"

"Not really. I mean, you've got a pretty good team for it."

"Why am I sensing a 'but' there?"

"But... what if you lose control? Of your pokémon, I mean."

"I... hadn't really thought about it." I admitted. He was right. Losing control of my team could be dangerous for everyone involved. I had never really worried about it before, but now that he mentioned it...

All I could do was hope that it would work out.

* * *

**A/N:** And here is the chapter that last chapter was supposed to be. Sorry about that. My life has been rather hectic, and I had to stop writing about half-way through the chapter. Oh well. These things work out this way sometimes. On to the team stats.

**Team Stats:**

Riley the bulbasaur  
Level: 10

Adella the mankey  
Level: 10


	6. Chapter 6

Remy and I decided it would be best to heal our pokémon before we did anything else. We sat in the lobby as we waited for the nurses to work their magic.

"So, you're challenging the gym in Pewter in a few days?" I asked. Remy nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah! It'll be our first real challenge!" he said brightly.

"Your first real challenge." I corrected automatically.

"Oh, that's right. You're not taking on the League." He thought deeply for a moment before continuing, "May I ask why?"

"I'm just not interested in it, I guess." I said.

"But you're so talented." Remy protested.

"Nah. I'm not the talented one. It's Riley and Addy who are doing all the work. I just kinda... stand there."

"Ah... I guess so." he said awkwardly.

"Well that hurt. You were supposed to say something like, 'No, Leaf. You really are talented.' and give some reason as to why."

"Sorry. I guess I didn't get that version of the script."

I tsked at him playfully.

"Anyway." Remy coughed, "You should at least watch. You might be able to collect some data for your research."

"Oh, you don't care about my research." I laughed, "You just want me to play cheerleader for you."

Remy winced. "You caught me." he admitted sheepishly.

"Alright." I said. Remy's face lit up.

"If I'm in town on the day of the challenge I'll cheer for you."

"It's a promise then!" he said.

"No promises. Just if I'm still in Pewter on that day."

"And when I win you have to come celebrate with me."

"Hey, isn't the Pewter Gym a rock-type gym?" I asked.

"So?"

"Aren't you... you know. At a type disadvantage?"

"Well, yeah. But I've come up with a strategy that I'm sure is going to win it."

"What is it?"

"You'll just have to watch the match and find out."

"Oh, come on! Just tell me."

"Sorry. No can do."

Remy and I had been so absorbed in our conversation we didn't even notice the nurse walking over to us.

"Excuse me, Miss Gilmore?" she asked. The nurse was a plump older woman. Her silver hair was tied up neatly under her hat, and her wrinkled face was pulled into a forced smile. I guess even nurses hate being up at this hour.

"Oh, I'm sorry." I said standing quickly. I had always found it awkward to talk to somebody who was standing while I was seated. I guess Remy felt the same way, because he stood up as well.

"That's quite alright, dear. You're pokemon are all patched up."

"Thank you."

"You know, you really shouldn't battle this early in the morning. I'm surprised your bulbasaur was even awake." she scolded.

"Yes. I'll keep that in mind." I decided not to mention that battling at four in the morning had not been my idea, or that Riley was a pretty early riser. It just seemed easier that way.

I said goodbye to Remy, and picked up my pokemon from the front desk.

"Don't forget! Be at the Pewter Gym in three days!" Remy called after me as I left. I gave him a quick wave of acknowledgment as I moved on. I supposed that the professor wouldn't mind my dawdling a bit. Especially not if I said it was for my own research. Even if he insisted that he needed the fossils any sooner than that, I was sure I would be able to convince him to use the storage system. Just this once.

When I walked out of the pokemon center I shivered against the early-morning chill. The city was just waking up it seemed. People on the street were making their way to their places of business, and some of the street vendors were beginning to set up shop.

The sun was just beginning to rise when I made my way north out of Viridian. It would have been a fairly pleasant walk, if not for the nerves eating away at my stomach. Worst-case scenarios kept playing in my head. _What if I get lost? What if something happens to Riley or Adella?_ I shook my head firmly in an attempt to banish these thoughts from my head. Children play in the forest. It couldn't be nearly as dangerous as I was making it out to be.

Although my work requires me to travel, I had never actually gone through the forest itself. In fact, most of the work I did had me traveling between the lab and Cinnabar. I'd never been beyond the northern Viridian City borders before. I did remember to pack a map, so it wasn't like I was going in completely blind. I paused to retrieve said map from my bag. Route Two was more or less a straight road, but I still wanted to have the map on hand, just in case. While I was rooting around in my bag I noticed something purple out of the corner of my eye.

I looked up to see what it was. I wish I hadn't.

A rattata staggered out of a patch of tall grass. It looked... for lack of a better phrase, like hell. Large patches of fur were missing, and it's skin was practically hanging off it's bones. It's mouth and claws were soaked in blood and saliva. It's own blood, judging by the fresh wounds, and not-so fresh wounds, on it's body. Some of the wounds seemed to be infected and festering. I was glad I was standing upwind from it, otherwise the terrible stench emanating from the wounds would have been much worse. The rattata stood perfectly still, staring at me. It's breathing was labored, and it looked like it was having trouble standing.

I had studied pokemon long enough to recognize the symptoms. I also knew that I was looking at a terminal case.

There was only thing I could do for this poor creature. I reached for Riley's pokeball, but stopped. No, I decided. I wouldn't force one of my team to preform this particular act of mercy.

Quickly, I glanced around and found a suitably large rock. It was small enough that I could wield it with one hand. I returned my eyes to the rattata, and bent slowly to pick up the rock. When I had my weapon, I slowly crept towards the sick pokémon. It collapsed as I approached.

"I'm sorry." I whispered as I raised the rock above my head. It had a decent heft to it. There was a sickening squishy thud as I bashed the rattata in the skull. The rattata looked up at me with scorn in it's eyes, as if to say, "And just what do you call that? Finish it. Kill me, or find someone who can." Fresh blood began to soak into it's fur. I was more disturbed than surprised that the rattata was still alive despite the dent I had just hammered into it's skull.

My eyes began to well up, but I blinked the tears back. I would have to be strong, both for myself and for this rattata. I howled an anguished battle cry as I struck the rattata again. It took another two blows before I was certain the deed was done.

It wasn't pleasant, but I did what I had to do. Anyone else would have done the same. I disposed of the remains in a shallow grave. I would have preferred to give it a proper burial, but I didn't have the right equipment to dig a real grave.

"I really am so sorry." I said once more before moving on.

* * *

**A/N:** I'm sorry this took me so long to get up. Originally I was going to roll this into the next one. I ultimately decided against it. That chapter isn't finished, and I already haven't updated in a long time. Anyway, things will actually happen next chapter, I promise.

Team stats:

Riley the bulbasaur

Level: 10

Adella the mankey

Level: 10


End file.
